Cal State Monterey Bay Takes 69-67 Heartbreaker From Toros
January 26, 2007

Complete Box Score

Seaside, CA -- Junior Mike Steed missed a possible game-tying jumper with one tick remaining in regulation, completing an improbable Cal State Monterey Bay comeback which saw the Toros squander an early 12-point lead in falling 69-67 Friday night in the Otter Complex. With the loss, CSUDH falls to 6-9, 3-7 CCAA, while CSUMB improves to 8-7, 5-5 in conference.

Steed scored a game-high 20 points on 9-of-11 shooting as the Toros outscored the hosts 13-2 in the first five minutes of play, eventually staking themselves to a game-high 12-point cushion minutes later.

The lead would remain steady, falling to 11 at 29-18 with 4:48 left in the first half before the Otters used a 10-0 run to cut the Toros' lead to one at 29-28 with just over a minute left in the half. CSUDH's Jonathan Toliver connected on one of his two 3-pointers with 37 seconds left to give CSUDH a 4-point lead and a bit of momentum heading into the locker room.

The Toros used Toliver's scoring spark to race to a 9-point lead with three minutes elapsed after the break, only to have the Otters forge a tie at the 12:50 mark, and take their first lead of the game 39 seconds later on two Joe Mitchell foul shots.

CSUMB would increase its lead to eight points on two occasions over the next five minutes, before Steed and Nonso Nibo combined for 11-consecutive points over the next two minutes to give CSUDH the lead at 67-64 with 1:22 left in regulation, only to have an Augie Johnston trey and a Matt Evans lay-in give CSUMB a two-point lead, setting up the final Steed miss of the night.

Steed added a game-high 8 boards while Bryant added 13 points and four blocks for the Toros. CSUMB meanwhile, which played just seven players in the game, boasted a quartet of double-figure scorers, led by Mitchell's 15 and Johnston's 14 points.

The Toros connected for 52.8% of their shots and out-rebounded the Otters by four (30-26), but hit just 6-of-11 from the foul stripe (54.5%) while CSUMB enjoyed a 12-for-18 shooting night from the charity stripe (66.7%).

CSUDH continues its conference road trip tomorrow night at San Francisco State, with first tip scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in San Francisco.